Rencontres musicales Château

We are very pleased to present the 2026 season of Rencontres musicales Château , which will once again serve as an invitation to share, discover, and experience emotion. The season is officially open!

Thanks to an exciting collaboration with the City of Saint-Amand-Montrond and Noirlac Abbey, this year’s season features new events: First, in Saint-Amand on May 23 and 24, with a revival of our opera production—Eugene Onegin—and a recital featuring two leading figures of the French music scene, Thomas Ospital and Romain Leleu, in a dialogue between organ and trumpet on the beautiful instrument donated by the Grand Condé. Then, in the château gardens on June 14, the ensemble La Rêveuse—in residence this year at the Abbaye de Noirlac—will take you on a musical journey blending Celtic traditions with Baroque influences.

Our season will culminate in the middle of summer,from August 13 to 16, 2026. For the fifth edition, two symphonic concerts will offer the chance to explore the French repertoire with the young prodigy Iris Daverio masterpieces of European Romanticism with violinist Sarah Nemtanu; a piano recital dedicated to Beethoven, Chopin, and Schubert by Jonathan Fournel, who rose to prominence at the Queen Elisabeth Competition; and a new opera, a new Romantic drama: La Traviata.

Artistic Director David Molard Soriano brings together more than thirty musicians from all over France each year to form the festival orchestra in residence at Ainay, along with a host of renowned soloists, and reunites with fantastic singers for a deep dive into opera.
Four days of music at château in the gardens, featuring symphonic concerts, chamber music, opera, literature, new discoveries, and musical experiences—for everyone—and always marked by excellence and connection.

The program is available online on our website: www.rencontres-ainaylevieil.fr, where you canbrowse through our brochure